framework for the implementation of a virtual design studio model in ...

The last few years have witnessed an increase in the number of private
as well as governmental universities in the UAE. This study will focus on
the governmental universities. The reason is that the governmental
universities which are managed by the Ministry of Higher Education in
the UAE follow a national curriculum that is developed in the country.
This curriculum has been developed to benefit the UAE nationals and
takes in consideration the needs of the UAE society. This curriculum
also meets the political attitude adopted in the UAE and takes into
consideration the socio-cultural factor in the UAE. Hence this study will
formulate a framework that takes into consideration the socio-cultural
factor when integrating technology in architecture education. As stated
earlier the education system in the Arab region lacks the insight of the
socio-cultural factors and the private universities that implement the
foreign educational system suffer also from the same problem. The
main university in the UAE is the United Arab Emirates University
(UAEU) which is located in Al-Ain. This university was the first official
university to be launched in the UAE. It is also considered the premier
educational foundation in the UAE. The first survey of this research was
observed and undertaken in the UAEU because of its dominant role in
UAE higher education system and the facilities that it encompasses.
The second largest educational establishment in the UAE is the Higher
Colleges of Technologies (HCT). Alongside the UAEU, Higher Colleges
of Technology play a vital role in educating UAE nationals and the UAE
government invest heavily in facilitating technology for both institutes.
The HCT aims at preparing a national workforce that is equipped with
the latest skills and technologies taking into consideration the needs of
the UAE society. In the year 1998, the UAE government founded the
third higher educational establishment which is Zayed University (ZU)
for female students located in Dubai. ZU also offers various educational
academic programmes that suit the UAE female workforce taking
advantages of the international expertise. The University of Sharjah
(UoS) located in the Emirate of Sharjah is a semi-governmental institute,
where the final phase of this study was undertaken at the University of
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